I find that the mother rhizomes after they bloom to be unpredictable. Sometimes they'll quietly die away, but too often they'll turn mushy and before I know it, all the increases around the mother rhizome are rotting away as well. I imagine it has to do with how dry they stay after blooming. Sometimes they'll appear to be soft but not quite mushy or rotting and I'm not sure what to so. As I can't control the rains, I wonder if I should pre-emptively them out before any damage could spread to the increases.
I once collected a pile of spent mother rhizomes and instead of throwing them away, I lightly buried them in another part of the field. This Spring, they grew like crazy, even better than their children. Go figure. They even bloomed although I suspect that may have come from even more increases.

Personally, I have rarely, if ever, had the rot spread to the increases. But usually the mother just shrivels. When I divide my iris, it depends on how much I like it and how well it increases. Here, it seems like the mother stays firm long after bloom and produces more babies. If I have plenty I go ahead and toss them, less dividing I will have to do later. A few just do not seem to multiply well and I leave the mother alone.

You are quite fortunate that your mother rhizomes have been behaving well. I may be overreacting but many of my mother rhizomes continue to rot. I'll probably start taking emergency steps to preserve the whole clumps with bleach water.

Typically my mother rhizomes just shrivel up so I toss them after dividing. Occasionally I'll keep a chunk to go along with the increase if it's still on the small side.

Good to see you again Ivor! Sorry to hear you are having some rot issues. I hope you can get under control.

If the Mother rhizomes are still hard, I replant them. I also send out boxes stuffed with Mother rhizomes and have had positive feedback on their success. Otherwise, the Mother's shrivel up, or become hollow husks. It's different here since it remains hot and dry after bloom season. We wont see rain again until October-November.

UndertheSun said:We wont see rain again until October-November.

Hush your mouth, Rob!

We DO sometimes see a bit of rain in mid-late August, or in September.



Don't jinx us!

UndertheSun said:
.......... I also send out boxes stuffed with Mother rhizomes and have had positive feedback on their success..........

ditto on that -- been a recipient of one of his boxes and can testify to the above Maybe you could pot up some of your "mothers" in some fast draining potting mix and treat with a liquid root stimulator -- (not rootone!)
https://www.hunker.com/1239861...
I did that with Bob's mother rhizomes and within a few weeks, had new increases sprouting out from the mother rhizome. Doesn't work 100% (some mothers didn't spawn any children) but the success rate is good enough to be worth mentioning

UndertheSun said:
We wont see rain again until October-November.

We actually got a touch of rain yesterday around 6 pm, probably enough to turn your windshield wipers on a couple of time but not enough rain to do any good. Today we got a couple of sprinkles, but not enough to even turn the wipers on, but is was liquid.

Why not Root Tone? And what root stimulators do you recommend?

I have not gotten potatoes to grow. They just lay there. So please don't send me any potatoes. I leave the mother rhizomes attached to the increases until the point where they are shrivelled. If they are soft with rot I remove them and leave the increases. And pour bleach solution where the removed rotted rhizome lay.

That's great Barbara! The only drops falling here, are the drops of sweat falling from my head.

I only send out (firm) Mother's if the person wants it/them. Usually the (firm) Mother's are already showing some green nubs, or have tiny increases on them...but not always.

Sometimes, a shriveled rhizome can surprise you. So don't toss them out too early.

Ok so it's normal for them to whither away? I thought I had rot or something when I found a deflated rhizome. How soon does one normally expect to see increases?

Lestv said:Why not Root Tone? And what root stimulators do you recommend?

.... too concentrated and doesn't penetrate the rhizome like the liquid mixture does. I've tried dusting the rhizomes with the powdered product and it doesn't work as well than the liquid product, plus the powdered rooting hormone is more costly to apply. In addition, weekly treatments of the rhizome in a pot, with a liquid root stimulator gives me excellent results in terms of the rhizomes actually producing roots. The corky outer rhizome layer is resistant to penetration with a powder, but with a liquid product, the penetration is deeper into the actual rhizome tissue itself. I've experimented with both products for many years and my best success is with the liquid product.
Lilly Miller, Bonide, Fertilome, all manufacture the root stimulators, so what ever is locally available. Only the products that have the actual auxin for root stimulation indole-3-butyric acid are effective. The so called "vitamin B1" is of no use to the plant. I often use root stimulator in conjunction with Superthrive too.

thanks timothy, i was just going to ask about 'superthrive'. you answered my question.

I don't think I have ever seen superthrive around here but sure have some that could use root stimulators. Thanks for the info!

i have used it as a root stimulator for my cordyline fruticosa cuttings...it seems to hasten the root production. once i see the roots start i change the water
every other day, or every day depending on the clarity of the water.

Here's a pic of them

Wow. I could use some root growth like that on some of my iris....

shizen said:

Here's a pic of them

Daphne ~ Is that from Superthrive? Or something else?

superthrive, diluted in h2O, for about a wk. then i switched to just plain h2O, and change the water everyday or every other, depending on the clarity of the water.

it's in a little ceramic bowl/tea cup (handle less) in my kitchen window above the sink, where it gets bright light/2 hr. direct sun a day. lots of humidity from all that goes on around a kitchen sink.🙃